Immigration and health authorities at Mwanza border on Saturday received ten bodies of Malawian nationals who died recently in South Africa.
Confirming the development was Mwanza border public relations officer Inspector Pasqually Zulu who said the Malawian nationals died due to various incidences during the Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa.
He said out of the ten, five died in road accidents, two were stoned to death as they sneaked out to buy foodstuffs while on lockdown, one was stabbed to death by unknown thugs and the other two died of pneumonia and HIV/AIDS respectively.
Inspector Zulu further added that as a precaution to containing the spread of the pandemic, health experts from Mwanza District Hospital were called to the border with assistance from Port Healthy Department on how best to handle the bodies.
He said the two vehicles with trailers that brought in these dead bodies were sprayed with antibiotic chemicals by health officials as a key strategy towards efforts to make sure that COVID-19 should not be imported into the country
The publicist further said that among the deceased, seven were from Mzimba while the other three were from Ntcheu, Nsanje and Nkhata-bay.
Meanwhile, all the district hospitals where these dead bodies are going have been informed and urged to take precaution measures knowing the bodies are coming from a country where the coronavirus pandemic has hit hard.
